Virgin Galactic postpones launch of commercial space tourism to late 2022

Virgin Galactic has suffered another setback. On Thursday, the company said it has delayed the start of commercial space tourism until the fourth quarter of 2022. The company had previously hoped to begin offering paid space flights in the third quarter of next year.

Given the delay, the company will begin repairs to both the launch vehicle and the spacecraft this month. Virgin Galactic says the entire process will take eight to ten months. As such, the next Unity 23 flight won't take place until mid-2022 at the earliest.

The delay is unrelated to the recent FAA investigation into Unity 22, the flight that took Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson into space. After the investigation concluded, the federal agency cleared the company for further flights.

Source: cnbc

Illustration: Fred Prouser / reuters